ESCONDIDO: Planners reject six-story buildings for south Escondido

DAVID GARRICK dgarrick@nctimes.com

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Worried that buildings as tall as six stories would be too intense for south Escondido, the Planning Commission decided last week to reject a proposal to begin allowing significantly denser housing projects on Centre City Parkway and Escondido Boulevard between Sixth and 15th avenues.

"I don't think that's the character of that area," Commissioner Darol Caster said in a phone interview after the meeting last week. "I think that's just too dense for Escondido."

The goal of the zoning change, which is among several proposals to increase housing densities included in the city's
general plan
update, was to place high-rise condominiums and apartment buildings along existing commercial corridors and where infrastructure upgrades are planned. Such an approach is often called "smart growth."

The area already has North County's first
"rapid bus"
line connecting Westfield North County mall with downtown Escondido via Centre City Parkway, and the North County Transit District plans to extend the Sprinter rail line down Centre City to the mall.

"The goal was allowing more housing choices and creating a larger population in an area that can handle it," said Jay Petrek, a city planner who played a key role in crafting the proposed
general plan
update, which is scheduled for a public vote in November. "It would allow us to take advantage of the infrastructure."

The proposal would increase the area's maximum housing density from 24 units per acre to 45 units per acre, which would be the highest in the city. Despite the commission's recommendation, City Council members could revive the zone-change proposal when they discuss the general plan update May 23.

A
staff report
summarizing the proposal said a citizens panel that helped create the general plan update decided the need for future housing outweighed concerns about damaging community character and creating blight.

But Planning Commission Chairman Jeff Weber said last week that most of the public comments he has heard have been in opposition to the change.

"Several of us have gotten a lot of negative comments," he said. Calling 45 units per acre "over-the-top density," Weber said he's also concerned that the change would worsen traffic congestion in an area where it's already a problem.

Councilwoman Olga Diaz said last week that she respected the opinions of the commission but was disappointed to hear it rejected the proposal.

"I thought the whole point of 'smart growth' was to have density where we've spent money on infrastructure," she said. "I hope they weren't focused too much on how it looks."

Weber said the general plan update includes many other opportunities for increased housing densities, and he added that the existing maximum of 24 units per acre in south Escondido still allows multistory housing projects on Centre City Parkway and South Escondido Boulevard.

But Weber agreed with Diaz that residents opposed to virtually any change in the city should reconsider. He said the city needs to adopt a new general plan that anticipates growth and plans for it carefully.

"Escondido is going to have to evolve and change," he said. "We'll fall farther behind if we don't adopt a general plan that allows us to adapt."